Another Nepal Banda Tomorrow: Depressing Scenario

Janajatis or indigenous people have called for a general strike in Nepal tomorrow. Economically that would be yet another blow to already depressing situation. That will be yet another day of walking for hours to reach offices, yet another day people wasting their time in walking instead of doing things in office, yet another day of confining buses in garages and loosing income. Yet another Nepal Banda! “This banda sucks man,” I was talking to Ang Tshiring Sherpa, a reporter friend of mine at Kantipur who reached at the top of Everest four years ago, as we were getting out of office tonight. “This is totally unnecessary and come at a really bad time.” I knew how he would respond.

“What?” he said. “No, it’s absolutely necessary.”
“No, it’s not.” I protested. “What’s the demand of janajatis? They want amendment in constitution and the government has already announced and decided that they are going to amend.”
“No, they are not,” he said. “We want things done at once.” Then suddenly he added: “The government is doing things in kistabandi (installment).”

Oh…boy, you have started speaking the language of Pasang (Sherpa of Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities),” I said as we departed from the office.

Yes, in this transition everyone wants to have their say. Everyone wants to be empowered. Even the Chepangs have joined in the fray. The Chepang community, eKantipur reports, has announced a transport strike in four different districts in central and western development regions, demanding a Chepang autonomous region. Of course, I there is a Madhesi autonomous region, if there is Limbuwan, Khumbuan, Magarat, why not Chepang? Why not Raute? Why not Poudels? Why not Pokharels? And how many autonomous region we will have to create? As I was typing these lines, I saw a comment from our own “Kirat” in UWB. He says:

“An intelligent person would think…why are these janjatis and madeshis protesting? Perhaps they have genuine grievances perhaps they don’t. But it would be the duty of every educated Nepali…let alone so called political leaders of the Congress, UML and Maoists to look into their demands properly and address it in the best way possible.”

Right. But the solution, it seems, will not satisfy all. There will be another person or faction that would say, well, what about us, we don’t agree. As Kirat rightly points out in another comment that we are going through very depressing situation:

“It’s a pretty depressing scenario right now in Nepal. Strikes and protests by all sorts of groups asking for a say in the new Nepal… Creating mayhem, hammering the economy and giving endless misery to the ordinary people. What does the [Seven Party Alliance government] do? Nothing. They are like a disinterested bystander acting as if this is none of their problem/business. That is so wrong. ….The fact that the govt. has failed in this simple exercise demonstrates the vastness of the problems that this country is yet to encounter.”

It is indeed so depressing that everyone is capable enough to create mayhem in Nepal these days. If you have a family dispute, go and stop the traffic. I don’t want to blame the government because they are in a difficult situation. It seems almost certain that we will be missing the deadline for the election of Constituent Assembly. No doubt some people are hell bent on making this government a failure there by giving the impression the people that democracy can never sustain in Nepal. Knowing this very well, some people are taking their responsibility lightly and this really makes me wonder. Even an utterly optimistic people like me become disappointed sometime thinking about the state of affair. Economy is going down, inflation is soaring, everything is at standstill (except the Nepal Telecom that is introducing on new service after another. Just today it launched GPRS service.) Feels like where the hell I am living? What the hell I am doing? Where is my future heading? What I will be doing, if anything, ten years down the line? “I read news about fascinating economic growth in China and India,” a friend of mine recently confided. “And suddenly this feeling comes into mind: ‘Damn I am a Nepali, why I am not in Ghanjau or Beijing.”

MPRF strike continues in eastern Nepal; now Chepangs join the fray(Life continued to be affected in the eastern regions due to the transport strike and customs check post strike announced the agitating Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (JTMM) which has steadfastly refusing parley offers until Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula resigns. Due to the strike, vehicular movement on the roads on the highway remains nil while the check post completely shut.)

Nepal’s constitutional process must be more inclusive: ICG report(“Nepal’s constitution-making process has two tough targets to meet. It must conclusively end the conflict and also shape more representative and responsive state structures. Balancing these concerns is far from straight-forward, but broader public participation can only help.”)

22 thoughts on “Another Nepal Banda Tomorrow: Depressing Scenario”

The main problem is the govt. is not serious of solving the ethnic issues of Nepal which is 100% legitimate and also the most important problem of all. They are all scared of losing their priviledged lifestyles. Look at them even now. They dont have a single strategy to address this. It shameful.

CIRCA APRIL 2006. THIS WAS THE SAME WAY THE SPAM WARLORDS CAME TO POWER. BACK IN APRIL, THE WARLORDS FORCED AND TERRORISED PEOPLE TO JOIN THEIR ANTI-NATIONAL, ANTI-SOCIAL AND VIOLENT ACTIVITIES. THIS TIME THERE ARE GENUINE DEMANDS BY GENUINE PEOPLE.

SPAM WARLORDS, YOUR FEUDALISTIC IDEAS AND AUTHORITARIAN, DICTATATORIAL RULE IS NOW BEING CHALLENGED BY NEPALIS!

this is all they are doing to spoil the achievement that we got and not let the election held on time.

why this things happening? cant they wait till the election? they are all spider childreen, who eat their mother after they are born.

shame on government who cant tackle the problem eitehr by talk or if there is no intention to talk, by law.

see that yesterday born madese forum wants home ministers resign , their objective is clear , take action against them. they are not for the right for madese people. they have royalists and hindu extrimists soul. if they were for right for their people would come on table.

i dont want home minister resign, he is the only one good person ever i have seen inside government. from the time before 12 points agreement and after that including peace accord , he had played role for the achievement on the behalf of nepali people.
its clear he is being obstacle for king and his lickers to have him U turn.

I won’t talk about Nepal with you. But please tell me, aren’t you the same guy who is working as a Waiter/Dish Washer in some road side restaurant in the UK? Aren’t you the same guy who wants to stay in the UK by hook or crook (even if it means absolute illegal means)?

its true that current situatin is over the boiling point for ordinary people. but we should also not forget the terrible hardships the ethnic groups have faced for centuries because of marginalization caused by one group being at the top. while shahs and ranas ruled over everyone, we all know one ethnic group has virtully controlled all aspects of politics, education and social strength in nepal. not all problems can be blamed on one group, its not the blame game at all,but we have to understand now that the ethnic groups have suffered because of this monopoly. i can imagine how it seems to them that this is the right time to voice their issues that have been supressed by regimes after regimes, though it is causing massive day to day problem.the ones on the top of the food chain will never understand their issues, their depth and grievances, because they never had to face the same situations, they have always ruled as they liked.

what we completely lack is a determined and capable leaders and leadership, with vision, commitment and moral strength to take on the peoples’ disenchantments, to tell them at least that their issues will be heard. i don’t see one such leader in our political arena, partly because of virtual non existence of one ethnic leader in the government or other leadership bodies, suppression is obvious. though it may seem that we face hardships with petrol, bandhs and kerosines in ktm, the plights that all the ethnic groups in nepal ( except one, who is always on top and complaints like the write of this article) should now be addressed properly, dealt with in terms of conflict management for now and the future.

Disappointing Wagle? So what do you want the Janjatis to do? How long do you want the Janjatis to wait? Anytime the King says something you start getting antsy and post all sorts of crap in your blog but if the Janjatis are protesting because nobody wants to listen otherwise, you have a problem? Wagle, the fact of the matter is that bahuns like you just cannot comprehend the problems of other discriminated minorities because the only kind of discrimination you folks have seen is in the form of monarchy. For a while I though you were one of the enlightened bahuns…guess I was wrong! Try to read the works by Locke, Mill and Hobbes to understand the ideas behind liberty and the right to self-determination. Everyone must be given a chance to define how they ought to life their life. Maybe you need to change you website’s name to:
United We Blog! for a Bahun defined Democratic Nepal

yeah even the maoist revolt was khanu paune bahun VS khanu napaune bahun. they will never realize or even try to realize that boundary of nepal covers other nationalities of different culture, language, religions as well. n this is the right time to clear all this nepals real problem n live happily n peacefully ever after, or do u want revolution again after 10 years. n the way he writes about poudels n pokherals also asking for autonomous region explains his understanding in this ethnic problem of nepal. its damn pathetic…..

Everywhere there is politics in Nepal specially.don’t follow the path that the political parties use to make fullfill their demand.

again nepal banda by JAN JATI people…actualy who is JAN JATI ???
Remember we are nepali from diffrent caste and communities.
its not time to fight for one communities and caste..let get unite and fight for us…but remember noone is going to solve our problem, we are for us.But these is not the right way to get fullfill the demand.

By the way we are not getting anything by writting here .the authorities are not hearing or we can say what to hear ?everyone is crying for himself only.
Make your sound BOLD to get your demand fullfill.

Ironic: LOL that was a funny!! I agree everyone is getting in on this andolan wave so why should a certain ethnic group be denied that right to demand inclusion. Even the Muslim community is demanding their rights. Hell even prostitutes are demanding their rights!

Wagleji-I certainly won’t condone this bandh by my fellow janjati activists but if the govt. after the April janandolan had at least pro-actively started addressing the issues raised by them and the Madeshis, would it have come to this? What concrete steps did the govt. take to make the new Nepal inclusive for all communities that live in Nepal, was this issue a priority for them? Appointing a few madeshi and janjati ministers here and there is just eyewash and these people saw through that. Even the Maoists, who championed their cause, seem to have lost their desire to address the madeshi and janjati issues now that they are sharing power with the SPA. The SPA has demonstrated time and time again that they will only listen to violence and bandhs so naturally the janjatis and madeshis have resorted to this to make themselves heard. Taking out peaceful rallies and organizing sit-ins has had no impact on the govt.

Anyway I too am eternally optimistic and looking at the present problems from another angle it can be said that , despite all the present problems, there does exist right now a fantastic oppurtunity to form a new modern Nepal that is inclusive for all it’s people and where we can get rid of all the wrongs of the past. But the SPA leaders and the Maoists have to be serious about this and realise how at this critical juncture the fate and well being of our country is in their hands. With this knowledge they have to rise above their petty interests and party politics. I think forming autonomous states like Khumbuwan, Tharuwan etc is a real bad idea…but the logic behind it is a justifiable one…a right to self determination..to have a say in your own life and that of your community, to be a part of a system that treats you equally and where you are not discriminated against because of your ethnicity or culture. For too long the minority groups in Nepal have been marginalised, their voices of frustration ignored and their role in nation building and decision making ignored/denied. Basically the demands of these groups seem to be three fold :-

a. Proportionate or proper representation in Parliament-the elected body that makes the decisons and policies for the country and it’s people.

b. Proper representation of their people in the administrative machinery of the govt-the appointed body that interprets and implements the policies and decisions made by the Parliament.

c. Self regulation of their own communities, local areas-the ability to manage their local areas and local community-like the burroughs, town councils i other countries-that can pass certain laws governing their own local community.

When you look at the above three demands-it is genuine and acceptable for the nation-state to provide these outlets of self-determination to the people. We don’t need to re-invent the wheel-the ethnic problems we are facing right now have already beeing addressed to some extent in countries like India, China, the US (with their different Native Americans and their disparate immigrant populations of Irish, Italian, Blacks, Jews,Hispanics etc. Note how badly the UK has handled their Muslim population to the point of creating suicide bombers from them.)

So for me the solution is right there for the SPA-M govt. Never give into demands that will hurt the Nepali state as a whole-show steel in these matters-but give them the justifiable rights of self-determination and expression within their local community and at the national level. Really if you think about it what’s the big deal-many other nations before have faced similar problems and have resolved them. Nepal’s problems are not unique maybe just some adjustments required to address the Nepali face of the problem. This is why I blame the SPA govt. on this issue. They just aren’t serious in addressing/solving these problems for the sake of the nation and it’s people.

wagleji.. rather than condemning these bandhs.. are you not going to condone the terrorists and the corrupt fatsos for showing the way? Isn’t this what they had resorted to when they were thinking their cause and method is over everyone else’s? Now, its time for others who has hitherto only piggybagged due to fear to find their own ground and come out to protest. And violent protests are what the SPAM have made a norm in this country.

BTW, why are you not condeming the on-going Maoists atrocities, your friend walking into the parliament with a gun, the micro bus incident and maoists forcibly taking voer properties in the name of redistribution. Last time I checked, none of the other incidents were deemed legal by any law of this country. Please, your comments.

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I wish our respected leaders and representatives would focus on the main problem at hand as of right now- ‘Constitution’. I am sure we can all sit together after that and discuss about Limbuans and Khambuans and other issues.

But, then again I am no expert, I am just another Nepali who wants to work so that he can live comfortably.

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